Zábry zeroes in on Sunday Million win; Carsandi claims $195K after six-way deal

by Martin Harris on February 17, 2013 11:56 PM

This week's Sunday Million saw another huge turnout with the first 8,000-plus player field of 2013 creating a huge prize pool of more than $1.6 million -- as usual crushing the tourney's $1 million guarantee. The top 1,170 finishers divided up those riches, and after almost 12-and-a-half hours it was Zábry of the Czech Republic earning the win and $151,644.65. And thanks to a six-way chop Carsandi of Portugal took away the biggest chunk of the prize pool to earn $195,810.13 while finishing fifth.

Boeree Leads the Red Spade Brigade

A number of Team PokerStars Pros joined the fun this week, but only three made the money with Johnny Lodden just barely missing out by finishing 1,181st. Eugene Katchalov (850th, $385,15) and Marcel Luske (675th, $449.34) each realized profits in the tournament, with their teammate Liv Boeree managing a much deeper run.

Like many, Boeree has been in Cork, Ireland this week where the UKIPT has been playing out, and in fact earlier on Sunday was eliminated in 19th place in the Main Event. (The final table takes place on Monday -- be sure to see the PokerStars blog for reports.)

Via Twitter Boeree contemplated whether to leave Cork or stick around another day and play in the Sunday Million, and ultimately she chose the latter. However, when she sat down to play initial circumstances weren't exactly ideal:

@Liv_Boeree: Internet in Cork is NOT WORKING. Therefore am onetabling the million on the @PokerStars mobile app like a hero (on rollerskates)

Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree

After several hours Boeree had skated her way into the cash and was sporting an above-average stack.

They were approaching the eight-hour mark when just 100 players remained, with HitEveryAce leading with just over 2.7 million, slavOuchka next with about 2.54 million, and Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis third with a little less than 2.23 million. And Boeree was still there was well, sitting just inside the top 50 with about 660,000.

An hour later all three of those former leaders had hit the rail -- HitEveryAce in 46th ($2,728.16), slavOuchka in 39th ($2,968.88), and Marty "TheLipoFund" Mathis in 33rd ($3,209.60). Meanwhile BecomTheBull, saken75, and N00000ooooo had pushed into the top spots with 32 left, all just above or below 5 million chips. And Boeree was still alive although by then short-stacked with less than 800,000 when the average stack was about three times that.

Boeree would last a while longer, then with the blinds at 50,000/100,000 watched as Johnny "BabyGrand" Josephy opened for 222,222 from the cutoff seat. It folded to Boeree who jammed for 563,984 from the big blind with A♣T♣, and Josephy called with K♣Q♣. The flop came T♦Q♥J♦, then the 9♥ turn made BabyGrand a straight. The river was the 2♥, and Boeree was out in 27th place ($3,530.56).

Finding a Final Table

After almost 10 hours of poker BecomTheBull was knocked out in 19th ($3,530.56), leaving just two nine-handed tables of players. It would take close to another hour for nine more to fall, during which stretch Carsandi and whitey714 pushed to the top of the counts.

It took almost 15 minutes for the first elimination to occur at the final table. With the blinds at 200,000/400,000, Zábry opened with a 2x raise to 800,000 from early position. It then folded around to saken75 in the cutoff seat who pushed all in for 3,104,712, and when it folded back Zábry made the call.

Zábry showed A♠Q♦ and saken75 T♦T♠. The board then brought a couple of queens, coming 8♠Q♥4♥Q♦6♣, giving Zábry trips and sending saken75 to the rail in ninth.

A couple of orbits later it was a short-stacked iamtheboss12 open-pushing all in for 886,292 from under the gun and getting two callers in whitey714 (middle position) and t6rdur (small blind).

Both of iamtheboss12's opponents checked the 2♥6♦8♠ flop and K♠ turn, then when t6rdur led at the 3♦ river, whitey714 stepped aside. t6rdur then showed K♦T♦ for kings, better than iamtheboss12's 9♦9♣ and the latter was gone in eighth.

There had been some talk of making a deal pretty much from the start of the final table, and with seven players left all finally agreed to pause proceedings to talk about a possible chop. By then Carsandi had a commanding lead with more than 28.9 million, with t6rdur second with about 13.8 million, Zábry third with a little over 12.5 million, followed in order by BabyGrand, whitey714, timmybwee, and DieselBossen.

During this initial pow-wow most of the players were amenable to accepting the presented figures, but ultimately timmybwee refused and so play resumed.

They continued for a while, with some still occasionally mentioning revisiting talk of a deal in the chat box as they went. Then with the blinds up to 250,000/500,000, a hand arose in which DieselBossen open-pushed all in for 3,108,314 from the button and both whitey714 (small blind) and Zábry (big blind) called.

The flop came 6♣9♠A♣, and when whitey714 checked, Zábry fired a bet of 2 million, good enough to make whitey714 fold. Zábry then showed A♥K♥ and DieselBossen A♠J♥ -- both had aces, but Zábry's kicker was best. The turn was the Q♣ and river the T♣, and DieselBossen was out in seventh.

With six left play was paused once more, with Carsandi still well out in front. This time both "chip chop" and ICM numbers were produced, and again no deal could be agreed upon. But then a few more hands were played, the tourney was stopped again, and after some further discussion the six did at last all agree to the "chip chop" totals, leaving $20,000 for which to play.

6 Turn to 2

Not long after they resumed play, whitey714 raised 2x to 1.2 million from under the gun, then Johnny "BabyGrand" Josephy reraised all in for 3,112,076 from the big blind, getting a call from whitey714.

Josephy showed A♦2♦ and whitey714 T♣9♦. The flop came 6♥Q♥8♣ and the turn the 5♣, and Josephy still led. But the river was the 7♠, filling a straight for whitey714 and ending BabyGrand's run in sixth.

From there a quick succession of hands saw chip leader Carsandi lose chips to become the short stack while Zábry pushed into the top spot. Then it was t6rdur raising to 1.2 million from UTG, whitey714 reraising to 1.8 million from the button, Carsandi pushing all in for 12,479,807 from the big blind, t6rdur folding, and whitey714 calling.

Carsandi was at risk with J♠J♦ against the A♠K♥ of whitey714. The flop came 4♣6♥9♠ and Carsandi still led, but the K♠ turn and A♦ river gave white714 two pair. Despite the fifth-place finish, however, Carsandi was destined to realize the biggest payday thanks to the earlier deal.

Soon Zábry was raising 2.5x to 1.5 million from UTG, then timmybwee reraised all in for 6,008,208 from the small blind. whitey714 then called the reraise from the big blind, causing Zábry to fold. whitey714 showed 4♥4♣, but timmybwee had Q♦Q♥ and appeared primed to more-than-double-up.

Then came the flop -- K♣4♦9♦! -- giving whitey714 a set of fours. The turn was the 2♥ and river the 5♠, and timmybwee was done in fourth.

A few hands after that the blinds had moved up to 400,000/800,000 when t6rdur opened for 1.6 million from the button. whitey714 called from the small blind, then Zábry reraised to 4 million from the big blind. t6rdur got out, then whitey714 reraised again to 20.8 million. Zábry responded with an all in push over the top, and whitey714 called with the 8,638,671 left behind, thus creating a total pot of more than 60 million.

whitey714 showed A♣T♣, but Zábry had A♥A♦, and when the five community cards came 6♥J♣6♦7♠K♣, they were down to two.

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Heads Up

Zábry had the big edge to start heads-up play with 65,787,748 to t6rdur's 14,452,252. t6rdur would soon narrow the gap, though, after doubling with A♠J♦ through the A♦6♣ of Zábry, then would grab a few more pots to seize the advantage.

Then came a big hand that saw Zábry double up after getting it all in on the turn with the board showing 2♥4♠7♦6♠ holding 8♠6♦ (a pair of sixes) against the A♥9♥ of t6rdur (ace-high). The river was the Q♠, and suddenly Zábry had more than 75 million chips while t6rdur had less than 5 million.

Just a few hands later, Zábry opened with a button raise and t6rdur called all in for 7,649,008 holding Q♦4♦ versus Zábry's K♠6♣. The board ran out 8♥K♦2♣4♠T♥, giving Zábry the best pair and the win.

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Congratulations to Zábry for topping a field of 8,024 to capture this week's Sunday Million title. And kudos as well to Carsandi who thanks to the deal earned the night's biggest score of more than $195K.

Have you heard about the big 7th Anniversary celebration for the Sunday Million coming up on March 3rd? It'll be the same $215 buy-in, but with a huge $7 million guarantee and the winner due to earn at least $1 million! Read all about it here.